Notice Me
by sphinx005
Summary: Connie wants a guy, any guy to notice her but the one who does is the last one she'd ever expect


"Connie what on earth is that?" Julie Gaffney was looking through her roommate's side of the closet and was alarmed to find what looked like a Playboy Bunny costume.

"My Halloween costume" Connie Moreau sighed knowing that she was about to endure a round of twenty questions. Something she didn't really want to participate in.

"A little revealing don't you think?" Julie eyed the outfit which consisted of a pair of black silky panties and a blood red corset that looked like it would cut off all circulation.

"So? Maybe I want to be noticed as a girl for a change and not and I quote 'Julie Gaffney's bitch'" Connie sighed. She was sick to death of the rumours going around that her and Julie were lesbians. She was sure one of the cheerleaders started it.

"Don't listen to what people say. We know the truth and so do the Ducks" Julie was also aware of the rumours but it didn't bother her half as much as it obviously bothered Connie.

"I know but I don't like being labelled something I'm not, not that there's anything wrong with gay people but I'm not myself and I can't keep myself sheltered under the Ducks. I have to meet new people some time" Connie sighed again. She should have known Julie would give her the 'who cares what people think?' speech.

"I guess" Julie was thoughtful for a moment. What Connie said made sense, she also didn't like being labelled something she wasn't. In all truth she hadn't given much thought to the people outside of the Ducks. It was like they were involved in their own little world and that suited her just fine.

"I just wish that for once guys would notice me as something other than the butch hockey player" Connie admitted.

"I'm sure they don't see you like that" Julie replied knowing where this was headed.

"Maybe, but even if they did notice me as a girl its not like any guy could get within ten feet of me without one of the Ducks breathing down their necks" Connie sighed for what seemed like the hundreth time.

"I know what you mean" Julie agreed.

"They were nice to Scooter" Connie pointed out.

"Only because I threatened to castrate every single one of them if they didn't back off" Julie laughed.

"And Linda backed me up" she added referring to Charlie's then-girlfriend.

"So you're saying that if I threaten to castrate them they'd leave me alone?" Connie asked hopefully.

"No I think they love you too much for that Cons" Julie replied glancing at her clock.

"Shoot I have to go, I'm meeting Adam at the rink for some practice. Do you want to come?" Julie asked.

Connie shook her head "No thanks, I think I might just hang around here and mope" she replied.

"Don't mope too long Cons, its not healthy. I'll see you when I get back" Julie grabbed her hockey bag and left the room.

As the door shut behind Julie Connie turned to look at the outfit in question. She'd bought it last week on impulse after hearing some of the girls in the hallways discussing their Halloween costumes. That was how she was informed of 'the slut rule'.

The 'slut rule' was the rule that on Halloween and only on Halloween were girls allowed to dress as total sluts and none of the other girls could say anything about it.

Connie had spied this as her chance to get herself _really_ noticed.

She rose from her bed and strode over to the closet where she picked up the costume that was on its hanger and walked back to her bed with it.

"Might as well see what it looks like" she said to herself. She'd been too embarrassed to try it on in the shop. She'd merely picked it up, found her size and paid for it quickly wanting to get out of the store as soon as she could.

She tried to push all negative thoughts about herself out of her head as she slowly pulled her t-shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor.

"Hey Catlady I….whoa" Portman had burst through the door and stopped when he saw Connie standing there in a pair of jeans and her bra.

"Jesus Portman don't you ever knock" Connie quickly used her hands to cover herself.

"Nope, easier to catch chicks naked this way. I should have waited a few more minutes" Portman replied with a wink.

"You are such a pig" Connie replied swooping down to pick up her shirt.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" she snapped aware that he was staring at her chest.

"You know you're hot for a lesbian" Portman grinned. He knew Connie wasn't a lesbian but he loved teasing her about it nevertheless.

"I AM NOT A LESBIAN!" she screamed pushing him out the door and slammed it shut behind him. She could hear him laughing down the hallway.

"Fucking asshole" she said trying not to cry. Of all people to walk in on her half-naked it had to be Portman, and he had to make her feel worse about herself than she already did.

……………………………………….

"What's so funny dude?" Fulton eyed his bash brother suspiciously.

Portman had returned to the dorm with a grin on his face and every few seconds he'd start chuckling softly to himself.

"Connie" Portman replied. He loved stirring her about the whole 'lesbian' thing in fact he loved stirring her about anything he knew would get a reaction.

"D'you call her a lesbian again?" Fulton rolled his eyes. His friend could be such an asshole at times.

"Yeah so?" Portman caught Fulton's eye roll.

"Dude you know she hates it" Fulton scolded. He usually teased Connie as well but he never teased her about that.

"She knows I'm joking" Portman defended himself.

"There's a limit before she really snaps bro and when she does don't come running to me" Fulton said.

"Yeah right" Portman replied feeling a little attacked.

Fulton didn't respond. He just resumed reading his Guitar World magazine.

"Oh did I tell you she didn't have a shirt on?" Portman suddenly remembered the best part about his visit to the girls dorm.

"What?" Fulton dropped his magazine. Now this he was interested in.

"Yeah I walked in and she was standing there in her little blue lacy bra" Portman described his sightings in detail.

"Dude no freaking way! Was Julie there too?" Fulton asked suddenly wishing he'd seen it. He didn't think of either Connie or Julie in that way but they were girls and any boobs were better than no boobs.

"Nope but damn Connie has a nice rack" Portman grinned.

"Dude did you just hear what you said?" Fulton was surprised. He didn't think Portman even thought about Connie in that way.

"Yeah she has a nice rack so what? She is a girl" Portman couldn't work out what was wrong with Fulton.

"Man that's just wrong, she's like a sister" Fulton scrapped his earlier enthusiasm and decided he'd had enough of this conversation.

"Whatever" Portman kicked his shoes off and turned the stereo up.

He knew that all of the guys on the team, even Banksie, watched the girls change out of the corner of their eyes in the locker room hoping to catch a glimpse of skin.

And he'd finally seen some.

……………………………………………………..

Connie had abandoned the idea of trying on the costume and had put her shirt back on.

She was replaying the scene over and over in her head.

I should have waited a few more minutes Pig You know you're hot, for a lesbian 

And it was the "L" word that always stuck in her mind. She knew that Portman had been joking but it hurt to hear it out loud.

_What the hell did 'for a lesbian' mean anyway?_ She wondered.

"Hey Cons how did the moping go?" Julie returned to the dorm room looking a little ragged.

"Fine" Connie replied a little harshly than she meant to.

"Someone's got their panties in a bunch" Julie replied setting her hockey bag down.

"God you sound just like Portman" Connie snapped.

"Sorry, are you okay?" Julie asked glancing at Connie.

"Just peachy" Connie mumbled.

Julie sighed "Okay what happened?" she knew Connie well enough that something had happened to make her snap.

"Portman just barges in here whilst I'm changing and has the nerve to say _Hey Connie you look hot for a lesbian_. God I wish I'd kicked his ass back to Chicago" Connie exploded.

"You weren't like fully naked or something were you?" Julie hoped for Connie's sake she wasn't.

"No I had my pants on, thank God, just my shirt was off" Connie knew that if Portman had've seen any of her 'private bits' she'd never live it down.

"Don't worry about him, he just loves to razz you up cos he knows you bite" Julie replied.

"Easy for you to say" Connie sighed.

"I know, how about we both just ignore him until he gets the hint to keep his big mouth shut" Julie suggested. She knew that if they both united on something then Portman would eventually give it up.

"Can't we just hit him?" Connie asked.

"No he'd love that too much" Julie replied.

"Well ignoring him it is then" Connie agreed.

…………………………………………………………….

By lunchtime the next day all of the Ducks knew about what Portman had seen in Connie's dorm room and they had pretty much the same reaction as Fulton.

"Portman give it a rest already, we really don't want to know" Charlie snapped.

"Yeah show Connie some respect" Dwayne added.

"Fine then you pussies" Portman sulked but brightened up when he saw Connie and Julie heading to the table.

"Hey Catlady" Portman called.

"I'm not speaking to you" Julie sat at the other end of the table with Connie.

"How come?" Portman was confused.

"Because you're a jerk and Connie's not talking to you either" Julie informed.

The other Ducks weren't at all surprised.

"FINE! Then I'm not talking to you either" he sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest glaring at Julie.

"Oh boy practice sure is going to be fun" Goldberg whispered to Averman who nodded.

"I bet Portman cracks first" Averman replied.

"I'm in" Ken handed over a five dollar note.

"Me too" Guy handed over his money.

"Count me in" Russ replied.

…………………………………………………………..

"I'll show them that they can't just pretend like I don't exist" Portman was flinging his science book around the room using his hockey stick.

_And they'll show you that you can't treat them like dirt _Fulton secretly thought.

"Aw shit!" Portman exclaimed when the book went sailing out of the window.

"You'd better go get it" Fulton said not looking up from his own science book.

"I s'pose" Portman reluctantly headed down to the ground floor where his book was laying on the pavement below.

…………………………………………..

"Hey, Moreau right? And you're Gaffney?" a Senior Connie and Julie recognised as the captain of the Football team approached them with a couple of other players and a bevy of cheerleaders behind them.

"Yeah but our names are actually Connie and Julie" Julie was annoyed that they thought they could use their last names.

"Sorry, I didn't know what they were" the guy apologised.

"Common mistake" Connie replied wondering what on earth the football team wanted with them.

"Yeah anyway we're having a Halloween party up at Jimmy's place and we were wondering if you'd like to come" the guy handed Julie a piece of paper with an address and details of the party on it.

"I guess" Julie replied slowly.

"Oh and your whole team's invited too so you girls will know some people there" the guy added.

"Okay, um thanks" Connie replied with a smile.

"Cool so see you girls there" he waved.

"Why'd you invite them for, they're lesbians!" they both heard a cheerleader whisper.

"Oh here we go again" Julie rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, we might see some girl on girl action!" one of the football players replied not realising nor caring that the girls were standing right behind them.

"Okay that's it!" Julie said angrily. That was the last time she wanted to hear anyone saying anything like that about her and Connie.

"What are you going to do?" Connie replied as she fought back the tears.

"Dorm room, now!" Julie hissed waking ahead with the stride she adopted whenever she was pissed off.

Connie stared after her for a second before she followed.

When they were in the safety of their dorm room Julie went straight for the closet and pulled out Connie's Halloween costume.

"Where'd you get this?" Julie demanded.

"At the mall why?" Connie was confused.

"Did they have another costume similar to this?" Julie asked.

"Yeah why?" Connie asked again.

"Because like you I am sick to death of the rumours. Its about time we set people straight. Starting with this Halloween party" Julie said through clenched teeth.

Connie grinned. Finally she had an ally in the war against cruel high school kids and their rumours.

……………………………………………………..

"Girls are you ready?" Charlie knocked on their door.

"Just a sec Charlie" Connie could hardly contain her excitement. Julie had been to the mall three days ago and bought herself a skin-tight Catwoman costume complete with whip.

They quickly threw their ankle-length coats on over the top and grabbed their purses. They would do their make up in Charlie's car once they got there.

They threw open the door and Charlie eyed them over wondering what on earth they were meant to be.

"It's a surprise" Julie told him with a look that meant _don't ask questions_.

Charlie accepted it at face value and led the girls down to his car.

Connie was pleased to see that Portman wasn't with the group waiting.

"The Bashes have gone ahead" Charlie explained.

"Good" Julie replied. She was still mad at Portman.

……………………………………………………..

"Okay ready?" Julie asked as they stood at the front gate to the party still in their coats. They told Charlie they needed to fix their hair and that they'd give his keys back inside.

Charlie knew something was up but didn't question it. The girls were scary when they wanted to be.

They were ready to execute their plan but there was just one slight little problem.

They were having trouble losing the overcoats.

"I'm too fat to be wearing something like this" Connie decided when a bunch of cheerleaders walked past in skimpy outfits.

"You are not, you've got a way better body than any of those bra-stuffing airheads" Julie replied taking the clip out of Connie's hair to allow it to fall down her back.

Connie didn't respond.

"Okay Connie you can do this, on the count of three. One. Two. Three"

The girls whipped off their coats to reveal their costumes.

"Let's go" Julie said taking a deep breath.

Connie could feel her heart thumping in her chest.

_I can't do this_ she panicked.

_Yes you can, if you don't then no one will ever notice you_

She took a deep breath, alarmed to see that Julie was nowhere to be found.

_Too late to back out now_ Connie thought and forced herself ahead.

"Well hello Bunny" a smooth voice came from behind her.

Connie tried to suppress her grin and play it cool.

She slowly turned around and was horrified to come face to face with Dean Portman.

"Connie?" Portman's eyes went wide.

"Not a word" Connie hissed feeling stupid.

"You look….wow" he took in the sight before him.

"I don't need one of your pervy comments right now" Connie warned him.

"Wasn't going to. You want a drink?" Portman asked.

"Sure" Connie raised an eyebrow. For once he wasn't acting like an asshole.

"Come on" Portman placed a protective arm around her shoulders and led her through the crowd into the kitchen.

"Hey Portman who's the babe?" some random guy yelled out.

"Holy shit its Connie Moreau!" he yelled attracting a lot of attention.

"I should just go" Connie whispered feeling the need to bolt.

"No, no little darling, you're staying put. You look hot and everyone here knows it" Portman couldn't take his eyes off of the little bunny tail that was affixed to the back of Connie's costume.

"You mean for a lesbian right?" Connie rolled her eyes.

"No for a _girl_" Portman told her.

"Not making fun of me tonight then?" Connie asked.

"No I think I've learned my lesson" Portman's eyes wandered down again.

"Portman, my eyes are up here!" Connie said impatiently.

"Huh? Oh sorry" Portman was embarrassed she caught him checking out her rack.

"Big deal, so she looks hot, I bet she's still a lesbian" a cheerleader dressed as a slutty little red riding hood scoffed.

"Don't hurt me for this" Portman said.

Before Connie could ask she felt his lips pressed to her own.

She heard several gasps around her and she heard Portman whisper "Go with it"

So she did.

She closed her eyes and allowed herself to be kissed by Dean Portman, the guy every girl wanted.

Suddenly the lesbian whispers were turned to 'slut' and Connie knew she'd made her point.

Portman broke off the kiss and Connie opened her eyes to find the girls giving her dirty looks and the guys ogling her.

She'd done it, she'd finally broken free of the rumours.

_And she'd just kissed Dean Portman!_

"Want to get out of here?" Portman asked almost shyly.

"Yeah" Connie agreed allowing him to lead her out to his car.

………………………………………………………

"Why is Portman kissing Connie?" Goldberg whispered to Russ.

"He's proving a point" Russ replied.

"That sure was some point" Dwayne grinned.

"Hey where's Charlie?"

"And where's Julie?"

"What is this? Lets kiss a girl Duck day?" Goldberg pointed to the far corner where their captain and goalie were engaged in a heavy make out session.

"Is she dressed as Catwoman?"

………………………………………………..

"So what was that?" Connie asked as Portman walked her back to her dorm.

"I thought it was pretty obvious" Portman replied.

"I know you kissed me but why? I thought you hated me" Connie asked.

Portman chuckled 'I don't hate you Connie, I never have"

"Then why do you give me a hard time so much?" Connie asked.

Portman continued chuckling.

"You remember the old saying, the meaner a boy is to a girl the more he likes that girl?"

"Yeah" Connie said slowly.

"Well I'll give you one guess who the boy is and one guess who the girl is" Portman shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Oh" Connie realised.

"Yeah 'oh'. Cons you didn't have to prove to anyone that you're worth a second glance" Portman said softly.

"I didn't?" Connie was in shock. Dean Portman was admitting he had thought of her as more than just a friend.

_Maybe he's not such a jerk after all._

"Nope, I've been watching you ever since the first glance" he said closing the gap between them.

"Can you kiss me again?" Connie asked wanting to feel his lips on hers again.

"Thought you'd never ask" Portman grinned dropping his head to capture her lips in another kiss.


End file.
